“We put in our love for Army in the music video,” said Jin, referring to the band using their bodies to spell out “A”, “R”, “M”, and “Y” in reference to their dedicated fandom. “For everyone who likes and follows us, we want to do everything together with them so we really work hard and go forward. For those who do everything with us, we’re planning to do good things and happy things with them. Thank you for waiting for us.”

RM co-wrote the song with Rob Grimaldi, Stephen Kirk, Ron Perry, Jenna Andrews, Alex Bilowitz and Sebastian Garcia. “We hope that Butter can be the summer song for 2021,” he said.

“As soon as you listen to [Butter] it’s a song that can give you a lot of joy” said V, before wittily saying that his favourite part is his line, followed up by Jin saying the same, and singing one of his lines.

Suga also added that Butter is another try to get a Grammy award, with RM adding that they are thinking of the Grammys. “Yes, we are going for a Grammy”, he confirmed.

The band members repeatedly said throughout the conference that they had regrets due to not being able to do what they had planned during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The year 2020 was a roller coaster, but at the centre I think it was music that played the most important role when I was having a difficult time,” said J-Hope. “I had consolation through music, and all the good things that happened was thanks to our music. Going through 2020, I learned that music has an enormous power. The most important thing is I’m missing the things we took for granted, the ordinary things we used to do, I learned they were really precious.”

The high-profile release gained a lot of attention for its retro pop feel, and Queen’s official Twitter account even gave BTS a shout out after fans pointed out a Butter teaser video ahead of its release featured instrumental callbacks to their 1980 hit Another One Bites the Dust. On May 19, in a now-deleted tweet, the account wrote: “Are you ready hey are you ready for this,” and “Another One Bites The Dust x #BTS_Butter,” adding a gif of Freddie Mercury. BTS later retweeted the post on their own account, but it was later deleted for unknown reasons, though RM confirmed that there wasn’t any sampling or homage intended.

During the conference, the band was asked about the K-pop flavour or the BTS style of the song, a follow-up to a recent conversation Suga had with the American music outlet Rolling Stone.

“K-pop is now not so much a genre of music, but should be categorised as an industry”, said RM, saying the band had discussed and thought about this a lot. “I think it has become more expanded in its meaning. Not just can our music be explained simply in the context of K-pop or outside K-pop. I’m not sure. But as BTS, when we do our best in the future, critics and the members of the press will be able to see us as who we are and evaluate us as we were.”

“’As BTS, what are the values we should realise and pursue?’” added RM about the band’s ongoing conversations about their future. “How do we leave a legacy? What would be meaningful for us? That’s what we always think about.”

“In our jobs as singers, we work hard so that we can be proud of what we do, and we feel we are good at what we do in our job,” said Suga.

The band was also asked to share their thoughts on their global popularity. According to Suga, their music and performances are major factors, while Jin said he believes it’s the way the band’s messages and thoughts about emotions and social issues resonate with listeners.

Butter is BTS’s second all-English song, following last year’s Grammy-nominated hit single Dynamite, and is said to precede the release of an upcoming album in the summer. The K-pop group will celebrate their eighth anniversary next month with their annual “Festa” event.

BTS will perform Butter live at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday night, where the band and their music has been nominated in four categories. BTS will also be featured in the upcoming reunion of the American sitcom Friends on May 27.